Pattern.



T. R. BELL.

PATTERN.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 15 1912 Patented J an. 14, 1913,

Attest: In ento Atty TI-IADDEUS R. BELL, OF WESTFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

PATTERN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14, 19313.

Application filed May 15, 1912. Serial No. 697,389.

To a]! whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THADDEUS R. BELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at \Vestfield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Patterns, of whichthe following is a. specification.

My present invention relates to an improved pattern for the use offoundries in making castings, and further relates to a method for makingsaid pattern, and comprises an ordinary pattern of wood or othersimilarly delicate material covered with a protective skin of metalwhich makes it for all practical purposes unbreakable and prevents itwarping or cracking or becoming otherwise injured. This method of makingpatterns does away with the cast iron pattern that is ordinarily madefrom the original wooden pattern and subsequently used in the moldingoperations to save the wooden pattern from deterioration and injury.Therefore, my present invention obviates the expense of filing andfinishing said iron patterns and the disadvantage of handling andtransporting their necessarily great weight.

The drawing illustrates a pattern within my invention and is a verticalsection through such pattern for casting car wheels.

In the drawing, 1 is an ordinary pattern made. for instance, of wood,and 2 is the aforesaid protective coating of metal that covers it allover like the skin covers the human body. The preferred method of makingmy improved pattern as follows: First, I make an ordinary pattern of theordinary materials such as wood or any other desirable or preferredmaterial of a perishable character, and provide that all. of itsdimensions shall be rmiforinly smaller than those required for thefinished pattern. Then I coat the surface of said pattern with anelectrically conductive substance. and then proceed in well-known way toelectroplate a uniform thickness of suitable metal such as copper allover said original pattern until the same is brought up to the requiredfinished size. Thereupon, the metal coated pattern is cleaned up and iscomplete.

It is arranged that the metal skin or coating shall be sutlicientlythick to prevent breakage of the pattern in ordinary usage. Further, theoriginal pattern, even though of wood, cannot arp or crack because it iscompletely inclosed and protected from the elements; and in any eventits efforts so to do would be prevented by the inclosing metal shell orskin.

The advantage of my present pattern over the ordinary wooden pattern isthat it makes same, practically speaking, unbreakable and does away withwarping and splitting.

I have discovered that the electro-depositing step in my process is ofessential importance in order tohuild up the perishable core topattern-size with a uniform thickness all over of the protective metal.Furthermore. this step permits any one or more of a large variety ofmetals to be deposited, such as may be best suited to the particularconditions of use.

The advantage compared with the usual castiron pattern made from theoriginal wooden pattern is that my metal coated pattern is so muchlighter in weight and therefore so much more portable and easy tohandle. Further. it so much cheaper because the electroplating operationis rela tively very simple and easy of accomplishment, whereas the roughcast iron pattern requires a tremendous amount of labor to file andfinish it for use.

What I claim is:

The method of making molding patterns consisting in making an ordinarypattern of perishable material, of smaller all around dimensions thanthose required for the tinished pattern; and then electro-depositingmetal on the foregoing to produce thereon a sufiiciently thickprotective coating and at the same time to build up the pattern to therequired size.

In testimony whereof I attix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THADDEUS R. BELL. lVitnesses:

WILLIAM R. BAIRD, E. W. SGHERR, Jr.

0opies of this patent may be obtained for five cents eacn, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

